Jo Messer’s solo presentation of nine new paintings opens today at The Ranch! “Whale Tail” will be on view through August 27, 2022. “Jo Messer’s paintings summon an ebbing inconstancy, a kind of shapeshifting, where categorical interpretation falls away—and where languid ambiguity rouses a slow burn. At nearly every juncture of her nested compositions, layers of accumulated paint wrestle for dominance in the foreground and background without ever resolving to a single plane. In this new body of work, sinuous women flash and flicker behind dense skeins on the painting’s surface. While Messer emphasizes certain limbs and gestures (either through heavy brushstrokes or streaks of white), these bodies and their surrounds often evade complete optical apprehension. Rhyming with Gilles Deleuze’s idea that we are “forever unfolding between two folds,” these images induce perception that slips between clarity and fog. Intoxication, in its many meanings, is useful in summarizing this effect—the cognitive delays produced by Messer’s durational process, the captivation with these undulating figures.” - @meganakincaid To schedule an appointment, visit theranch.art or send inquiries to [email protected] Thank you to @56henry.nyc for your collaboration and support! @cornerdeliellie @eramyrtz Image: Jo Messer, “Never Lost for Words,” 2022. Oil on panel. 53 x 43” (134.6 x 109.2 cm) #jomesser @jomesser_